Real Life

The original novel was published in 2018. Translated by Roland Glasser.

When the innocence of fairy tales meets the terror of a Stephen King thriller...

This international bestseller by French author Adeline Dieudonné is one girl’s bitingly funny coming-of-age tale within a violent, savage family.

At home there are four bedrooms: one for her, one for her little brother Sam, one for her parents, and one for the carcasses. Her father is a big-game hunter, a powerful predator, and her mother is submissive to her violent husband’s demands. The young narrator spends the days with Sam, playing in the shells of cars dumped for scrap and listening out for the melody of the ice-cream truck, until a brutal accident shatters their world. The uncompromising pen of Adeline Dieudonné wields flashes of brilliance as she brings her characters to life in a world that is both dark and sensual. This breathtaking debut is a sharp and funny coming-of-age tale in which reality and fantasy collide.